Elementary School Teachers’ Perceptions of Geometry and its Teaching and their Classroom Practices
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Abstract
The objective of this research is to examine the perceptions of elementary school
mathematics teachers of geometry, its learning and teaching, and their practices in the
classrooms. More Specifically, this research explores elementary school mathematics
teachers’ perceptions of geometry, how they justify students’ need to learn geometry in the
elementary school, teachers’ teaching methods practiced in the geometry classroom, the
reasons they give for the success and failure of their teaching methods, and which
geometric skills they value as essential for the elementary student. The research examines
this by differentiating between teachers of grades 1-2 and teachers of grades 3-6.
To substantiate such examination, the research depends on the grounded theory utilizing
the two first stages in particular. The research findings demonstrate that the two groups of
elementary school teachers of mathematics sometimes have similar perceptions of
geometry and sometimes different perceptions. With respect to their classroom practices,
they sometimes emphasize the same practice like using tools to teach mathematics, but they
sometimes focus on different practices. For instance, teachers of grades 1-2 emphasize the
role of groups to teach geometry, while teachers of grades 3-6 concentrate on the role of
teachers and the learning material.